Here’s some more news for the media gatekeepers to bury, since it runs strongly counter to their preferred gun-control narrative: a 71-year-old Florida man used his lawfully carried firearm to thwart an armed robbery at an Internet cafe in Ocala, Florida.

The two perpetrators were armed with a handgun and a baseball bat. They barged into the cafe around 10:00 PM Friday, masked and ready to party. One of them immediately started smashing computer equipment with his baseball bat, while the gun-wielding thug started barking orders at the patrons.

But they didn’t count on Samuel Williams, the elderly gentleman with a concealed-carry license. Ocala.com describes what happened next, while The Blazehas posted surveillance video:

One of the masked men, identified as Duwayne Henderson, 19, comes in pointing a handgun at customers. The second man, Davis Dawkins, 19, is seen swinging a bat at something off screen, which was later identified as a $1,200 computer screen.

As Henderson turns his back, Williams pulls out a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun, stands from his chair, takes two steps, nearly drops to one knee, and fires two shots at Henderson, who bolts for the front door.

Williams takes several more steps toward the door and continues firing as Henderson and Dawkins fall over one another trying to exit the building. The two eventually run off screen.

Both men were shot by Williams. Their wounds were not life-threatening. Each was arrested hours later and charged with attempted armed robbery with a firearm and felony criminal mischief.

There is some hope that the encounter may have given Henderson some second thoughts about his life of crime, as he nurses gunshot wounds in the hips and buttocks. “I feel horrible. It doesn’t feel good. It makes you think about life’s decisions, and how you should live your life,” he said in an interview from jail. He specifically said he didn’t expect any of the patrons to be armed, and faulted his partner-in-crime for getting too hung up on random baseball-bat vandalism to warn him about the gun-toting senior citizen. He also made a point of grumbling about the unfairness of Williams continuing to pump lead into him after he hit the floor.

Hopefully Henderson and Dawkins will turn their lives around, but more determined stick-up artists should take heart. Gun-control zealots are riding to the rescue, and doing their level best to ensure that future victims won’t be armed. They already think it’s more than a little odd that Florida hasn’t followed in the footsteps of such gun-free paradises as Chicago and Washington D.C.

Williams, who was relaxing at the cafe with his wife when the robbery began and told investigators he feared for her safety, reportedly will not face any charges for his conduct during the incident.

A woman who was at the cafe that night hailed Williams as a hero, saying “I think he is wonderful. If he wouldn’t have been there, there could have been some innocent people shot.”

The perpetrators say they didn’t plan on shooting anyone; according to Henderson, “The gun was broken and rusty and wasn’t loaded. Nobody was going to get hurt.” Of course, he didn’t kick in the doors to the cafe he planned to rob and shout, “Don’t worry, everyone, this gun’s broken and unloaded! Now hand over your wallets!”

The gun-control movement is dominated by people who seem to believe robberies, rapes, and murder attempts are orderly affairs, in which the law-abiding citizen has plenty of time to get everything just right, while coming to a carefully reasoned agreement with his attackers. Failing that, we’re apparently expected to stall for time until professional conflict-resolution technicians with badges show up. That’s not how it works. It always has been, and always will be, the lawbreakers who set the brutal rules of engagement.